Vice President, Operations

Who we are:

The Lacek Group is a collection of brilliant, passionate, intellectually curious, and unique people who work on the leading edge of customer engagement. We come to work every day to help our clients build longer-lasting, more profitable customer relationships. We listen, collaborate and celebrate together. We treat each other with kindness and respect. And we believe different perspectives drive innovation, fuel creativity and make our business and communities better. 

Together with our parent company Ogilvy, one of the most creative and effective agencies in the world, we believe diversity drives smarter work for our clients — and better business for us. We believe inclusion is essential, and we welcome all who are ready to join our push for positive change. Every single day.

What we need:

Are you a strategic leader with a passion for operational excellence and driving client success? We're seeking an experienced Vice President, Operations & Delivery to elevate important work and our agency's project delivery capabilities. In this pivotal role, you will be the execution orchestrator, instrumental in defining and standardizing modern agency processes, optimizing resource allocation, and ensuring our teams consistently exceed client expectations. This role brings the agency's work to life, managing the "how" and "when" of campaign execution, providing clarity to the internal mechanics and efficient and specialized execution of work.

What you'll do: 

• Operations & Delivery Leadership:Define and implement a vision for Operations & Delivery that aligns with agency goals, focusing on modernizing and optimizing agency delivery processes, compliance to maintain consistency across teams, and continuous improvement across all project lifecycle stages. This includes focusing on project execution, workflow management, resource allocation, and process standardization.
• Project Planning & Management:Either directly, or through team management, plan delivery of projects, manage resources, ensure quality, coordinate launch, and track progress of projects. Provide input on the feasibility, level of effort, required resources, and operational considerations as scopes of work are developed.
• Resource Management & Optimization:Partner closely with senior leadership, client leaders, and practice area leaders to develop and manage robust resource capacity planning frameworks, ensuring optimal allocation and utilization of talent across the agency. Provide the consolidated resource plan.
• New Business Enablement:Provide critical support for new business development by expertly supporting the BD and pitch teams on RFIs, RFPs, and new business requests, including data-informed project estimations. Collaborate with client leads and the BD team on clear, comprehensive, and profitable Statements of Work (SOWs).
• Talent & Risk Management:Proactively identify resource risks and gaps, working collaboratively with HR, functional managers, and portfolio leaders to implement effective solutions.
• Process & Tool Adoption:Champion the identification, adoption, and compliance of best-in-class project management processes, technologies and tools across the organization. Serve as agency point-of-contact for third party project management-oriented tech providers.
• Mentorship & Guidance:Provide expert project management process and technical tool training, support, guidance, and mentorship to Client Services and Operations & Delivery teams. Responsible for up-to-date training documentation.

What you'll bring:

Project Management, Marketing Technology & Digital Expertise:

• 10+ years of progressive project management experience within an advertising or marketing agency, with a strong focus on campaign development, marketing technology and digital solutions. A strong focus on agency work that taps into cross-functional teams (account, strategy, creative, data, campaign operations, tech development.)
• Deep expertise in project management methodologies (Waterfall and Agile), best practices, and significant experience with various project management tools.
• Extensive familiarity and hands-on expertise in a variety of project management and marketing technology tools. Strong understanding of tools to assess applicability, connectivity, training of teams, adoption and documentation.
• Proven experience with change management initiatives.
• Strong understanding of marketing principles and common digital solutions including email, social, paid media, web, content management systems, etc. Experience with offshore solutions a plus.
• Prior agency experience is strongly preferred.

 Leadership & Team Development:

• 10+ years of management experience, including leading and developing teams.
• Skilled at evaluating, developing, and championing best practices for gaining commitment and building consensus across the organization.
• Proven capability to navigate ambiguity and uncertainty with ease and confidence, providing guidance and direction to others in complex situations.
• Ability to maintain the confidentiality and sensitivity of business information.

 Client & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Client-facing experience on complex and tech-heavy projects, demonstrating strong relationship management and communication skills.
• Proven ability to build and nurture strong internal and external relationships, including the agency's client services teams and practice areas, and external technology partners.
• Adept at addressing and resolving conflict constructively while preserving key relationships.

 Core Skills & Attributes:

• Exceptional organizational skills and meticulous attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex information clearly and concisely, maintaining a focused and calm demeanor under pressure.
• Expertise in troubleshooting and advising on complex challenges using technical and professional knowledge, while anticipating future trends and their impact.
• A commitment to continuous learning; ongoing coursework in Project Management is a plus.

 Education:

• Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, or a related field preferred.
• Project Management and Martech certifications a plus.

You'll love working at The Lacek Group – smart people, great environment, engaging culture, comprehensive benefits and fantastic growth opportunities. Your confidential inquiry is encouraged.

This position is hybrid, with an expectation to be onsite in our downtown Minneapolis, MN office 10x a month.

The Lacek Group

700 Nicollet Mall Suite 610

Minneapolis, MN 55402

The Lacek Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer

The base salary range for this position at the time of this posting is indicated below. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications. We offer a competitive benefits package, click here for more details.

The Lacek Group is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

If you need any assistance seeking a job opportunity, or if you need reasonable accommodation with the application process, please contact us at Please note that this contact is only for candidates who are requesting accommodation. Emails for other purposes, including application status requests, will not receive a response.